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Justice Ramez Khawly said the Crown didn’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt she intended to break the law at the exact moment she refused to fill out the census form. She made that decision over tea with a Statistics Canada agent more than two years ago.

The decision surprised both Tobias, 89, and her lawyer, Peter Rosenthal.

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“I was confused by (the decision) because in my own mind I know exactly what I was doing,” Tobias said afterward.

“I don’t fully understand the judgment,” Rosenthal said. “He wasn’t criticizing her for being old . . . the exact nuance of what she was thinking when she failed to fill out the form was something that he felt the Crown hadn’t appropriately proven beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Tobias and her lawyer, Peter Rosenthal, fought the criminal charge on the basis that filling out the form would violate her charter of rights, specifically her freedom of expression and freedom of conscience.

In 2011, Tobias did not fill out the census form on purpose after she found out its information was processed with software provided by Lockheed Martin, the American weapons manufacturer the peace activist loathes.

About 50 of Tobias’ supporters were in court and for them it was a ride. First they sensed her guilt, then, maybe, she’d get off — and back again, the courtroom hooked to the judge’s loquacious 45-minute decision.

During his speech, the judge lambasted everyone in the Old City Hall courtroom, from the public to the defence to the Crown.

He chastised the public for being rowdy at the one-day trial last week.

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“If you want to throw eggs at me,” said Khawly as he first sat down, dressed in a fitted black three-piece suit, “do it outside please.”

Then he quickly tossed aside Rosenthal’s defence, which said that forcing Tobias to fill out the form was a violation of her freedom of expression and conscience under Charter of Rights of Freedoms.

He called it a “Hail Mary” and a “smokescreen” and dismissed it outright, but called Rosenthal a “wily fox.” There was also no case law supporting their argument.

There was hope, but it didn’t look promising for Tobias because she readily admitted to refusing to fill out the form, which is a criminal offence under the Statistics Act.

But then the judge turned his scope on Crown Attorney Maria Gaspar, seemingly angry that this case went all the way to trial.

The prosecution, he said, “should have re-evaluated the case, but if they did they sure are tone deaf to the way the world works.”

“Anyone in justice who had not seen that coming should be ushered immediately into an introductory marketing course,” Khawly said.

In the end, the judge decided on the case itself. There was a “hefty reasonable doubt as to her intent,” so he found her not guilty.

Tobias was trying to relax at home, but her phone continued to ring, either reporters, such as the Star, pestering her for further comment or friends sending congratulations.

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